Rise and Shine: Stewed Fruit

My mother made us kids stewed dried-fruits, but only occasionally, because my middle sister would push her bowl away, declaring it "granny food." To be fair, it does feature prominently in traditional baked goods: fruitcake, teacake, plum pudding, mince pies. It was instant disappointment for her if she was served something studded with prunes or raisins instead of chocolate chips. A whole intensely-flavored and leathery-skinned bowl was far too much to contend with.

Now I’m grown up, I can enjoy dried fruits with impunity, and they wind up in lots of my breakfast fare. A little dried fruit packs a lot of pungent sweetness, so in each of these recipes it’s either mixed with either fresh fruits or combined with oatmeal or yogurt.

Stewed Dried Fruit It’s a bad day indeed that starts with (optional) breakfast brandy, so perhaps substituting with apple juice is for the best. This one is a perfect match for creamy Greek yogurt.

Ayurvedic Stewed Spiced Fruit Heavy on spices, this aromatic recipe calls for ghee, which you can buy at the Indian market behind Yashow in Sanlitun. You could also substitute for an equal quantity of unsalted butter.